Citation tracking works by asking each AI engine your tracked questions, then recording whether your site is cited. CiteTrack uses your own API keys for those calls, so you pay each provider directly at cost (usually cents per run), nothing is marked up, and your keys stay encrypted in the local vault on your own server.
You only need a key for the engines you want to track. Add one to get started and add the rest later.
Where to get each key
OpenAI (ChatGPT)
- Sign in at platform.openai.com/api-keys.
- Click Create new secret key, name it “CiteTrack”, and copy it (it starts with
sk-and is shown only once). - Add a little credit under Settings → Billing, a new key needs a balance before it can run.
Perplexity
- Go to perplexity.ai/settings/api.
- Add a payment method, then click Generate to create a key (starts with
pplx-).
Google Gemini
- Open aistudio.google.com/apikey and sign in with Google.
- Click Create API key and copy it. Gemini’s free tier is enough to start testing.
Anthropic (Claude)
- Open console.anthropic.com → API Keys.
- Add credit under Billing, then click Create Key (starts with
sk-ant-).
Add them to CiteTrack
- Go to CiteTrack AI → Citations (or step 3 of the Setup wizard).
- Paste each key next to its engine, tick enabled, and click Save.
- Keys are stored masked (last four characters shown) and are never written to logs.
Cost control: you choose how many prompts, which engines, and how often runs happen, a normal weekly run is a few cents to a couple of dollars. Set a hard spending limit in each provider’s console for peace of mind.
Key not working?
- “Invalid key”, re-copy it with no spaces, and make sure it’s pasted next to the right provider.
- “Insufficient quota” / HTTP 429, that provider account has no billing or credit enabled. Add a balance and retry.
- The Citations screen shows a red status with the provider’s exact error for each engine, fix that, then re-run.